Keywords
minimalism
anti-consumption
consumer behaviour
welfare
Abstract
This article explores how supporters of what we call the “less is more/ ecological lifestyle” preach the need to reduce consumption. Through the analysis of websites and online shops of the promoters of this lifestyle we find that, while they promote spirituality, minimalism, mindfulness, and environmental care, they paradoxically encourage consumers to buy new products in line with this lifestyle. Consequently, they produce what they supposedly combat. As a result, the less is more/ecological lifestyle, far from diminishing consumerism, encourages it.
References
Albinsson, P., Wolf, M. & Kopf, D. (2010). Anti-consumption in East Germany: consumer resistance to hyperconsumption. Journal of Consumer Behaviour, 9 (6), 412–425.
Bahl, S., Milne, G. R.; Ross, Spencer, M. & Mick, D. (2016). Mindfulness: Its Transformative Potential for Consumer, Societal, and Environmental Well-Being. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 35 (2) 1-30.
Becker, J. (2021). Becoming Minimalist [online]. https://www.becomingminimalist.com/magazines/
Bell, K. (2015) Can the capitalist economic system deliver environmental justice? Environmental Research Letters, 10 125017.
Błoński, K. and Witek, J. (2019). Minimalism in consumption. Annales Universitatis Mariae Curie-Skłodowska sectio H Oeconomia, 53 (2), 7-15.
Brunner, K. & Meltzer, A. H. (1971). The Uses of Money: Money in the Theory of an Exchange Economy. The American Economic Review, 61 (5), 784–805.
Carter, N. (2007). The Politics of the Environment: Ideas, Activism, Policy. Cambridge University Press.
Cherrier, H., Black, I.R. & Lee, M. (2011). Intentional Non-Consumption for Sustainability – Consumer Resistance and/or Anti-Consumption? European Journal of Marketing, 45, 1757-1767.
Dobscha, S. (1998). The Lived Experience of Consumer Rebellion Against Marketing. In: J. W. Alba and J. W. Hutchinson, eds. NA - Advances in Consumer Research Volume 25. Association for Consumer Research, 91-97.
Elgin, D. & Mitchell, A. (1977). Voluntary simplicity. Planning Review, 5 (6), 13-15.
Hausen, J. E. (2018). Minimalist life orientations as a dialogical tool for happiness. British Journal of Guidance & Counselling, 47 (2) 168-179.
Herek, S. (Director). (1998). Holy Man (Movie). Touchstone Pictures.
Iyer, R. & Muncy, J. A. (2009). Purpose and Object of Anti-Consumption. Journal of Business Research, 62, 160-168.
Jacob, J. (1997). New Pioneers: The Back-To-The-Land Movement and the Search for a Sustainable Future. The Pennsylvania State University Press.
Jacob, J. (1996). The North American Back-to-the-Land Movement. Community Development Journal, 31 (3), 241–249.
Jacob, J., Jovic, E. & Brinkerhoff, M. B. (2008). Personal and Planetary Well-Being: Mindfulness Meditation, Pro-environmental Behavior and Personal Quality of Life in a Survey from the Social Justice and Ecological Sustainability Movement. Social Indicators Research, 93, 275-294.
Johnston, T. C. & Burton, J. B. (2003). Voluntary Simplicity: Definitions and Dimensions. Academy of Marketing Studies Journal, 7 (1), 19.
Kondo, M. (2014). The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. Ten Speed Press.
Kumar, V. (2015). Evolution of Marketing as a Discipline: What Has Happened and What to Look Out For. Journal of Marketing, 79 (1), 1– 9.
Lange, O. (1942). The Foundations of Welfare Economics. Econometrica, 10 (3/4), 215-228.
Lee, M. Fernandez, K. & Hyman, M. (2009). Anti-consumption: An overview and research agenda. Journal of Business Research, 62, 145-147.
Lee, M., Roux, D., Cherrier, H. & Cova, B. (2011). Anti-consumption and consumer resistance: concepts, concerns, conflicts and convergence. European Journal of Marketing, 45 (11/12).
Libai, B., Narayandas, D. & Humby, C. (2002). Toward an Individual Customer Profitability Model. Journal of Service Research, 5 (1), 69–76.
Luchs, M. G., Naylor, R. W., Irwin, J. R. & Raghunathan, R. (2010). The Sustainability Liability: Potential Negative Effects of Ethicality on Product Preference. Journal of Marketing, 74 (Sept), 18–31.
Maniates, M. (2002). In search of consumptive resistance: The voluntary simplicity movement. In: T. Princen, M. Maniates and K. Conca, eds. Confronting Consumption. MIT Press, 199-236.
Meissner, M. (2019). Against accumulation: lifestyle minimalism, de-growth and the present post-ecological condition. Journal of Cultural Economy, 12 (3), 185-200.
Mick, D. G. (2016). Buddhist Psychology: Selected Insights, Benefits, and Research Agenda for Consumer Psychology. Journal of Consumer Psychology, forthcoming, 27 (1), 117-132.
Millburn, J. F. & Nicodemus, R. (2011). Minimalism, live a meaningful life. Asymmetrical Press.
Olsen, M., Slotegraaf, R. J. & Chandukala, S. R. (2014). Green Claims and Message Frames: How Green New Products Change Brand Attitude. Journal of Marketing, 78, 119-137.
Peñaloza, L. & Price, L. L. (1993). Consumer Resistance: A Conceptual Overview. In: L. McAlister and M. L. Rothschid, eds. Advances in Consumer Research, 20. Association for Consumer Research, 123-128.
Pugno, M. (2014). Scitovsky, Behavioural Economics, and Beyond. Economics E-Journal, 8 (24) 1-29.
Rabin, M. (1998). Psychology and Economics. Journal of Economic Literature, 36 (1), 11 – 46.
Rodriguez, J. (2017). The US Minimalist Movement: Radical Political Practice? Review of Radical Political Economics, 50 (2) 286-296.
Rosales, D. (2020). Simplicity Relished. Lifestyle. https://simplicityrelished.com/category/lifestyle/
Rosenberg, E.L. (2004). Mindfulness and consumerism. In: T. Kasser and A. D. Kanner, eds. Psychology and consumer culture: The struggle for a good life in a materialistic world. American Psychological Association, 107–125.
Sale, K. (1993). The Green Revolution, The American Environmental Movement 1962-1992. Hill and Wang.
Sandlin, J. A. & Walther, C.S. (2009). Complicated Simplicity. Adult Education Quarterly, 59 (4), 298–317.
Scitovsky, T. (1976). The joyless economy: an inquiry into human satisfaction and consumer dissatisfaction. Oxford University Press.
Sheth, J. N., Sethia, N. K. & Srinivas, S. (2011). Mindful consumption: a customer-centric approach to sustainability. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 39, 21–39.
Shi, D. E. (2007). The Simple Life: Plain Living and High Thinking in American Culture. University of Georgia Press.
Shoe, D. (12 January, 2018). The UK Has Banned Microbeads. Why? The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/09/world/europe/microbeads-ban-uk.html
Silvera, D. H., Lavack, A. M. & Kropp, F. (2008). Impulse buying: the role of affect, social influence, and subjective wellbeing. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 25 (1), 23-33.
Soper, K. (2008). Alternative hedonism, cultural theory and the role of aesthetic revisioning. Cultural Studies, 22 (5), 567–587.
Stiglitz, J. E. (2002). Information and the change in the Paradigm in Economics. The American Economic Review, 92 (3), 460-529.
Vanberg, V.J. (2004). The Rationality Postulate in Economics: Its Ambiguity, its Deficiency and its Evolutionary Alternative. Journal of Economic Methodology, 11, 1-29.
Witt, U. (2017). The evolution of consumption and its welfare effects. Journal of Evolutionary Economics, 27, 273–293.
Zavestoski, S. (2002). The Social-Psychological Bases of Anticonsumption Attitudes. Psychology and Marketing, 19, 149 - 165.
Zero= Abundance (2017). Chapter 1: Power of Zero [online]. Available from: https://www.interactiongreen.com/
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Copyright (c) 2024 Behanomics